Artificial Envy
by Verboten Byacolate
Summary: Some heartstrings are made of plastic. Beside him here, this swing, this wind, this cloudy day, Hinata knows that hers are made of glass. NaruHina, onesided NaruSaku, hints of SasuSaku. Yes, all of that.


_A/N;_ Inspired by _Naruto wants Sasuke's Girl_, a smexy AMV on YouTube by **NightGaze**. I don't support NaruSaku at all, but it's a rad AMV.  
_Disclaimer;_ Characters belong to Kishimoto.  
For **_Tiger5913_**, my nee-chan and mommy, who has given me so much, and deserves much, much more.

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**Artificial Envy**

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_- I am your thought, but the water is amnesia  
my name is on the tip of your tongue.  
My image is slipping  
but your memory is gripping it;  
this is my breath in your lungs -

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She doesn't plan on meeting him here, but it happens inevitably. He is sitting on the swing, and it's almost funny because he's too old for that, but his eyes dampen all traces of humor that might be there; his downcast, heartachingly blue eyes. She can't just walk past, pretending that she doesn't see. She can't be the way she used to be.

It is a windy day, and clouds nearly smother the sky. She doesn't mind. It just makes his eyes all the more blue. (_She loves his eyes._)

"N-Naruto-kun?"

He looks up, surprised. She stands before him, a plastic grocery bag clenched in her small left fist. He can make out small, colorful packages that could be ramen, could be pocky, could be lo mein. She doesn't seem like the junk-food-eating kind of person; she's more like the strictly milk tea and kintoki carrots type. Her skin looks delicate; her long, dark hair waves in thin, silky-looking strands. Her eyes are soft and kind. Even the wind doesn't toussle her appearance.

"Hinata!"

He smiles at her, and she nearly swoons. But it is fake, and she knows this, so she settles for a light blush instead of losing consciousness. "A-are you all right, Naruto-kun?" He still smiles, all the more forced, and she swallows back the bitter pain in her throat. "You seemed... unhappy..." She isn't sure if she should proceed. He smiles, and it hurts.

But then... his face begins to fall. He looks down at his hands in his lap, his feet rest on the ground as his legs straighten, pushing his body backwards.

"It's stupid," he shrugs. "You wouldn't care."

She _does_ care. She crouches, her grocery bag making crinkling noises as she sets it on the grass and sits. He looks at her, more surprised than before.

"I-if you want... you can talk to me, Naruto-kun." She smiles at her hero, placing her hands in her lap. "I will listen."

His eyes are wide (_and blue and beautiful and amazing and surely contain the world_) and he fingers the orange material covering his knees.

"I'm a jealous person, Hinata."

She would have wished for him to say her name in that confident, dusty-sounding voice of his, if it weren't lowered in melancholy. He looks at her. "Do you like someone?"

Her heart skips a beat, and she's thankful that she is sitting down. "W-what...? W-well, y-yes, but..."

"Not to get in your business or anything," he said quickly, motioning with his hand as if to wave away any doubts about his motives. "I just mean... you probably picked a nice-looking guy, right?"

She can't swallow. "Ah.. t-to me... he is..."

He seems almost confused. "Is it someone like Sasuke?"

"I... I'm not sure." Her brow furrows in thought. "I don't know Sasuke-san... but somehow, I c-can't imagine any similarities..."

"Then you can't tell me why Sakura-chan thinks the way she does," he mutters. She picks at her sleeve.

"W-what about Sakura-san?"

"I'm jealous of Sasuke," he says, running a hand through his thick blond mane, "because, even after all these years, he still has Sakura-chan's love."

Her heart plummets.

"Y-you... love Sakura-san?"

His cheeks tinge pink, and she knows, and she knows, and she _knows_. It hurts.

"W-well..." He is stuttering too. Hinata breathes.

"I cannot tell you what Sakura-san thinks..." Her fist clenches and she places ot over her painfully thudding heart, "b-but I know how it must feel." She looks down. "For her... a-and for you."

"Really?"

She looks up, smiling, and he is stunned. It is such a beautiful, saddening smile that makes him want to tell her that everything will be all right, and she will get everything she deserves, and _don't look like you're about to cry, Hinata, because you're too pretty for that_, and then she speaks.

"Y-yes. I th-think Sakura-san truly loved Sasuke-san." She swallows. "She still loves him because... she has faith. She hopes that maybe, someday, he will see her, and... and th-then, he will know... that he is her precious person... a-and maybe, he will love her back. That is what I think... b-but I'm probably wrong." Has she said too much? Will she hurt him? "A-and you... you want the same. You want Sakura-san to see you... you and she are the same." Will she be miserable as well? "The more you desire it.. th-the more you feel pain when it cannot be yours." She looks up. "Why are you in love with Sakura-san?"

He looks back, and doesn't know what to say. "Hinata..."

"F-forgive me for saying so..." she says, bravely forging on, "b-but I think that you sh-should first bring Sasuke-san back to Konohagakure. It s-seems that he is the dependant factor in this... i-if he will have her, then at least things will be settled. If not, then... Sakura-san can move on. M-maybe she'll see what an amazing person you are."

She said it, and she doesn't know why, but it feels as though an opressive weight has lifted off her shoulders.

"You think... if that happens... she could love me?"

... and now, she is facing a lonely, cold wind that it had shielded her from before.

"Maybe," she murmurs, her voice lost in the breeze. The sky is darker than it was mere moments ago. _Her_ sky is darker. She wishes it would rain already, so the sun would come out, and she could see why her judgement this day was as cloudy as the sky overhead. She wishes. She is unfortunate.

Maybe she should use her wisdom to her own advangtage.

"Thanks, Hinata! You know.. you're a good listener! And you're really smart with this stuff!"

"Any time, Naruto-kun," she replies softly.

He can't see that she'll still be there when Sasuke returns and Sakura becomes his (officially).

He can't see that her heart is breaking.

She didn't plan on meeting him there, but it happened inevitably.

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_- Echo. We all are connected  
a lighthouse a voyage  
for history's sake,  
will you please take notice? -_

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_- Fin -

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**Lyrics: _Echo_, by The Hush Sound.  
Written while listening to Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, composed by the fabulous Karajan.  
Just say YES to reviewing! 8D  
-Bya**


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